Sterling should be worried about Manchester City future

With Manchester City hiring a new manager in Pep Guardiola and having an active summer transfer window, Raheem Sterling should be worried about his future at the club

Last year Manchester City paid £44 million for a 20-year-old Liverpool starlet named Raheem Sterling; they might want that money back.

Expectations for Sterling going into last season were incredibly high as he had just signed a massive deal for the club. He was also was coming off back to back seasons winning Liverpool’s Young Player of the Season award and being named to the 5 man shortlist for PFA Young Player of the Year, but unfortunately all the hype did not come to fruition.

Sterling had a less than mediocre season for the Premier League side, only scoring 6 times in 31 Premier League appearances. He was poor playing in crosses from his usual position of left attacking midfielder and was less than willing to contribute defensively a lot of the time City did not have possession. To add-on to poor play, he also suffered from injuries in early 2016.

Even with the incredible price tag he came with, he end up losing his starting spot towards the end of the season. Due to his inconsistent play and failure to be effective attacker, he was largely considered to be one of the worst signings of the season.

Sterling no doubt has talent and showed bursts of it throughout the season, including a hat trick against AFC Bournemouth, though.

While one bad season won’t mean the end of a career, especially for a player who is just 21 years of age, the offseason that Manchester City has had seems to put his position at the club in jeopardy.

The first problem is the parting of ways with Manuel Pellegrini and hiring of new manger Pep Guardiola. While he did end up benching Sterling at the end of the season, Pellegrini is the manager that brought him into Man City. Sterling obviously impressed him during his time at Liverpool. It would have been easier for Sterling to win back the favor of a manager who saw the potential in him before, but now he must convince a manager who didn’t sign him that he is good enough to play.

Obviously Guardiola would familiarize himself with Manchester City players, but he might not see the same potential in Sterling as Pellegrini did. Even if Guardiola does see loads of potential in Sterling, there is another obstacle for him.

Sterling collides with Iceland GK at Euro 2016 — (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

The second problem Sterling has is that Manchester City have had an active summer transfer window. Guardiola has brought in four new players: İlkay Gündoğan, Aaron Mooy, Nolito, and Oleksandr Zinchenko, and they all play midfielder. This spells intense competition for Sterling and when you add in the fact that they are players Guardiola chose himself, it will make competing with them even harder for Sterling.

The fact that he brought in a whole host of midfielders suggests that Guardiola identified that position of the field as his weakest. This means that he probably doesn’t see Sterling as a very good option for a team that wants to compete not only in Premier League, but also the UEFA Champions League.